Philipp Gerschlauer/David Fiuczynski
Mikrojazz! Neue Expressionistische Musik
(2017, RareNoise Records)
Mikrojazz! Neue Expressionistische Musik
(2017, RareNoise Records)
Independently, German saxophonist Philipp Gerschlauer and New York guitarist David Fiuczynski have explored microtonality, the musical practice that plumbs the infinitude of tones between C and C sharp. On this bracing new collaboration, their mastery of many untraditional tunings finds wide, uncanny expression. Gerschlauer's artful reconsideration of Coltrane's "Giant Steps" in the opener "MikroSteps" sets a hall-of-mirrors tone for the recording, with Fiuczynski letting fly ringing bursts of altered pitches like the lovechild of Bern Nix and U. Srinivas. It's one tangled web of just-intonation Gerschlauer and keyboardist Giorgi Mikadze weave on Fiuczynski's "Walking Not Flying," matched by fretless bassist Matt Garrison's seismic glissandi and, elsewhere, his superb solo on "Last Chance." The not-so-secret weapon is legendary Woodstock-based drummer (and past employer of Fiuczynski and Garrison) Jack DeJohnette, imbuing this singular project with his own distinctive delicacy, iridescence, and jouncing wallop. Rarenoiserecords.com.
